Reintroducing Paid Subs
And a new contributor!
Longtime readers will know I’ve added, and removed, paid subs several times. To be completely honest with you, the offer was never compelling. Starting this week, I’m re-adding paid subs with much more content (some of it paywalled) and other valuable perks.
Here’s the weekly schedule going forward:
Monday - Mental Game
Improving at chess is often more about psychology and emotion than knowledge and technical skill. Every Monday we’ll dive into a mental game topic. The first edition, in which I talk about tapping into the power of curiosity, comes out tomorrow.
Tuesday - Game Review
Each week I’ll pick and review a reader game. This feature is available for everyone, but only paid subs can submit games for review.
Wednesday Workout
A puzzle to improve your chess. The puzzle will be available for everyone, but the video recap where I break down the solution and what you can learn from it will be for paid subs only.
Thursday - 3 Things I Like
Three things I’m into this week, apart from chess. This is for paid subs only. If you’re not converting to paid, I can’t imagine you care what I like anyway.
Friday Morning - Openings Update with GM Eugene Perelshteyn
A grandmaster and elite openings researcher breaks down a hot opening trend. This is a premium feature for paid subs only. More on Eugene and the Openings Update below!
Friday Evening - Livestream
A live video discussion of a chess topic, featuring a guest or panel. This is available for everyone.
Last week I discussed chess-playing LLMs with
. You can watch the replay here:Livestream Replay
Wow, what a fascinating conversation! We really got into the weeds of all the weirdness of chess and LLMs. Worth a watch if you weren’t able to tune in live.
This week I’ll be talking about guess-the-move training with
.Saturday - Big Think
A longer piece touching on broader themes of learning, strategy, and decision making. This is also open to everyone.
New Contributor, GM Eugene Perelshteyn!
I’m incredibly excited to announce that, starting this week, GM Eugene Perelshteyn will be contributing a weekly feature for Zwischenzug. You might know Eugene as the co-author on my book Evaluate Like a Grandmaster.
As a GM, Eugene is of course great at all aspects of chess, but he’s especially known as an openings researcher. He’s worked for some of the top GMs in the world. This stuff is so intense I can’t even tell you the names, but we’re talking about 2700+. At the Isle of Man, he outprepared Magnus Carlsen and got a big advantage from the opening (Magnus fought back and won, but Magnus will do that).
Every Friday, Eugene will break down a cutting edge opening idea. While these are advanced concepts, Eugene has a knack for explaining them to players of all levels. For him, openings aren’t just about moves, they’re about richly meaningful ideas. I’m something of an openings nerd myself, but my mind is always blown when I talk with Eugene.
Trust me, once you hear him explain an opening idea, you’re not going to forget it. You literally can’t buy better opening prep than this anywhere.
Subscriber Levels
Free
Free subs have access to multiple weekly posts as described in the schedule above.
Paid
Paid subs get the following benefits:
Access to additional weekly posts
Can submit games to be reviewed for Game of the Week
Wednesday Workout video breakdown
Access to the Opening Update with GM Eugene Perelshteyn
Resources from my coaching library
Once a month live video group coaching session
The paid subscription is $8/month, or $64/year.
Master Level
All paid benefits, plus:
2 hours of 1:1 live coaching, plus 2 offline game reviews ($700 value)
Top secret projects
The Master subscription is $640/year.
30% Off!
For the rest of this week, all subscriptions are 30% off. This is the deepest discount I’m likely to ever offer, and it won’t happen often, so if you want to subscribe now is really the best time.
I’m incredibly excited about this new lineup of offers. Can’t wait for the first week for the new schedule!




Just subscribed, never had a paid substack before... Read about your health troubles and thought I'd do a little to help
Brilliant schedule Nate really looking forward to your content.